I'm sure you've all heard this before, but I really didn't want to become President of the Sacramento County Bar Association.  At least I don't think I did.

Becoming President of the Bar Association is somewhat of an interesting process.  As you all know, it's an elected position.  And as you all equally well know, it is rarely contested.  While members elect the President, it is largely the Association's Nominating Committee that decides who the members get to vote for.

I say largely because any member can run for President without the need for the Committee's endorsement. I am sure there are some obscure forms and deadlines to meet for those interested in challenging the heir apparent, but the fact that so many decline to do so suggests to me that nobody really cares or we're all happy with the Committee's selection. I, of course, prefer the latter explanation, at least as far as this year's election is concerned.

In order to catch the eye of the Nominating Committee, which is usually composed of a past president and other dark and murky characters, you have to do good works. But these can't be any old good works. They have to be good works for the County Bar.  I am quite sure that even if you devoted your entire life to the feeding of the poor and hungry you would have little chance of being noticed by the Nominating Committee, and thus becoming President of the Sacramento County Bar Association.

Although there is no set formula for how  to go about performing these good works for the Bar, usually it takes the form of some sort of service on the County Bar Council, be it as a member-at-large, a section representative, an affiliate representative or as a committee chair. 

I started out as a member-at-large, for which you are elected (again, with the quiet approval the Nominating Committee) for a three-year term. Up until this year, there were 12 members-at-large that served on Bar Council, with each new member being elected in blocks of four. This year, however, in an effort to reduce the shear size of the Council, we have reduced, among other positions, the number of members-atlarge from 12 to 11.

Regardless of the number of members-at-large, or the size of the blocks in which they are elected, the theory was, or so I supposed, that the Nominating Committee would select the most deserving candidate out of each memberatlarge 'graduating' class to serve on the Executive Committee. Thus they create a kind of competition among the membersatlarge to out 'goodwork' the other.  I have long since been disabused of this notion, as evidenced by the election of Chris Krueger, last year's editor of this very periodical and an excellent choice, but a non-council member at the time of his selection to the office of Secretary/Treasurer.

But how you get there is not the point.  Chris paid his dues, put in his time and deserved a shot.  The point is getting nominated to the Executive Committee in the first place, since once elected your march to the presidency, absent a moral charge or two, is virtually guaranteed. You just keep moving up the chain of command  -- Secretary/Treasurer, 2nd VicePresident, 1st VicePresident, President  -- with little or no opposition. Which brings us finally, inexorably, to me. 

When I was nominated for the office of Secretary/Treasurer, I was not, as it were, a unanimous choice.  I was first asked to run by one person and then asked to 'unrun' by another.  Actually, that's not exactly true. At the time I was asked to 'un-run', I had neither decided to run nor submitted my application. I was still pondering the matter and trying to decide whether I wanted to take on such a huge time commitment. You see, I didn't join the Bar Council to become president; I joined because somebody asked me to serve.  And then somehow or another along the way I messed up and got myself noticed.

Who knows what would have happened if the person who asked me not to run had left me alone. But the fact that this person did certainly played a part in my decision; largely because I was offended by the individual's rationalization. It was not so much that this individual did not want me to run, but that the individual wanted me to delay my candidacy a year so that a more politically correct candidate could be nominated.  Moreover, I did not believe that candidate had paid their dues, put in their time or deserved a shot. Apparently, the Nominating Committee agreed, because that's how you got stuck with me.

And lest you think I ran for office only out of spite, let me assure you I did not. It has been an honor and a privilege serving the County Bar these last six years and I look forward to serving it even better and more effectively in this my seventh and final year.  If anything, the experience of getting nominated to the Executive Committee has made me want to work even harder to prove all the naysayers wrong.

I also wanted to serve because I feel very strongly about something. We talk a lot at the Bar about serving the community and enhancing the system of justice. And those are all laudable endeavors.  But it really begins and ends with you  the members. Without you, the members, we don't get to do any of that stuff.  It's you that make us strong. It's you that make us effective.  And it's you that make us relevant.  I want this year to be the year of the member and to help build this organization into something we can all be proud of in the years to come.

January / February 2006